Untitled BuffyCSI Cross
by KellyTyler521
Summary: Title to be added later... after I get that far. (I'll take suggestions for the time being.) Simple Buffy problem in Las Vegas, turns from big mind-blowy experiance for the CSI gang, to halfway apocolyptic experiance for everyone. Comic relief in the form


"You wanna take us _where_?" Buffy Summers asks Karissa Tyler, from the middle of the hotel suite as she reclines in her small, wooden chair in the corner of the room

"Las Vegas. I don't know why it sounds so outlandish to you. It's Vegas." Karissa says, stating their destination for the second time.

"Why would we want to go to Vegas, anyway?" Xander Harris asks from his spot near the door that joins the parlor and one of the two bedrooms.

"Maybe Cordelia gave her a tip about something she found out while she was there last year?" Willow Rosenburg says, pouring herself another cup of tea and going to sit back down on the loveseat.

"Or maybe Karissa's thinking vacation." Kennedy says, turning towards us, away from the TV, from her nice comfortable position on the couch. "We've been fighting for a _long_ time; I say we deserve to have some fun."

"Actually, Willow's mostly right. I've got some contacts in the city, and they've alerted me to some rather odd events going on. I thought we'd go check it out since they're so ill-equipped." She says, as Buffy resumes her pacing.

"I never knew you had contacts in Vegas." Xander says.

"Crime labs. I've worked for the District Attorney's office for a while, gained some friends." She says, curling her leg to rest her chin on her knee and my heel on the edge of the chair. "I've discussed it with Giles and the head of the night shift at the labs in Vegas, Grissom gave his go, – mostly because of Willow, - but Giles thinks the situation sounds desperate enough for all of us to have more than enough to do."

"Why would I make a difference in someone's decision?" Willow asks, her nervousness making her sound slightly childlike.

"Will, science major, hacked into restricted government computer systems in _high school_." Xander says.

"Oh. You think they know about the high school stuff?" Willow says, her nervousness wearing off a little.

"They shouldn't; you were never arrested." Buffy tells her, barely slowing.

"Actually, I did tell them I have a hacker, I just didn't tell them the full extent." Karissa tells them.

"What? Why the hell would you do that?" Kennedy cries.

"What? Nicky's the only near-spotless one there, - I think. Don't worry; they have bigger problems than even beginning to worry about some reformed governmental system cracker. Particularly when you're supposed to be on _their_ side." She says, remembering a friend's daughter.

"I somehow doubt that." Willow mutters.

"Either way: I bought tickets for everyone." She tells them, feigning disinterest.

"What about Dawn?" Buffy asks, pausing her pacing.

"Las Vegas has schools. Really nice ones, too." Karissa says simply.

"Can she get in?" Buffy asks cynically.

"Can she read?" She scoffs. "C'mon, Buff. What's the real issue here?"

"We've been moving around just so much, we were just getting used to San Francisco when – "

"Buffy, you know as well as any of us that we went there only for the Conference of Magick Users." She says.

"Yeah… well, what about Xander? What's he supposed to do in Vegas?" Buffy asks, obviously grasping at straws.

"The labs recently had an explosion, took out their D.N.A. Lab, decided to remodel while they had the chance, but the government won't pay." I say to Xander.

"Who pays, then?" Xander asks.

"The labs, they already had it in the budget." Karissa says.

"Okay… okay, well, what is the big deal _there_, they must deal with weird stuff all the time." Buffy says.

"From what I hear, a bunch of vamps that cleared out of Sunnydale transplanted there following a few major demons. They've got a few demons eating children, or sucking on brains, so they're fairly eager to get you and Kennedy there." I tell her. "And this is _way_ out of the Vegas definition of "normal"."

"When can we leave?" Buffy asks, in her famous no-nonsense-if-you-wanna-live tone.

"As soon as we can get everyone back up and packed." She tells her.

"So I have a job now?" Willow asks, timidly hinting at reiteration

"A paid internship, probably, as soon as the interview's over." She says, trying to be comforting, - which isn't easy with Willow.

"My job's fairly well fixed, though, right?" Xander asks uncertainly.

"Yeah, you're gonna be heading up the reconstruction team." Karissa tells him. "Kennedy, Buffy; you'll be working as CSIs as well, but since none of you have so-called "legitimate" training in forensics, Will, I've talked them into giving you level two privileges on a case by case basis. Buffy, you and Kennedy are going to be doing a lot of watching and talking to vics or potential suspects, try and remember that you're not interrogating vampires. Dawn will be coffee girl or babysitter, her choice. Giles is going to be on random research, and I will be back at my "normal" job at the D.A.'s office and will help out when I can. Within a couple of days we should be really getting down to business. Sound fair?" She says as they set to packing toothbrushes, toiletries, and clothes back in their proper bags.

"What's all this?" Rupert Giles asks, through a sleepy yawn.

"We're taking the Redeye and leaving tonight." Willow says, handing him one of his shirts and a pair of pants.

"I don't wanna go to school!" Dawn Summers mutters, still pretty much asleep.

"Bet she's glad she fell asleep in her clothes." Kennedy says under her breath, stuffing one of Willow's sweaters into a bag.

"Uh, that's my bag, Kennedy." Xander says, balling his dirty boxers as small as he can in his hands.

"So? Are you planning a secret detour to Iowa or something?" Kennedy responds tiredly, handing him his duffel bag anyway.

"No one's dared to wake Faith?" Karissa asks, seeing two figures missing.

"Faith's coming?" Dawn asks, suddenly awake.

"Thought I'd ask her anyway, even if she does only come for the gambling and strippers." Karissa says, counting bags as they're loaded onto the bellhop's trolley.

"Who can sleep with all this noise? I'm in, let's bag us a brain eater." Faith says, coming out of the other adjoining bedroom fully dressed, bag already packed, as she tosses it onto the cart.

"Got a spot for an ex-high school principal who failed chemistry?" Robin Wood asks, emerging behind Faith, likewise dressed and packed.

"Well, if not, I know a floor manager who's hiring." Karissa says sarcastically. "Buff, Kennedy, any problem with working with Faith?"

"No." Both of them say in unison, rather hesitantly.

"All right." Karissa says, finding that they have all the bags and all the people. "Lemme just do a quick sweep of the rooms and then we'll be off. Xander, call for transportation?"

"Where are we going anyway?" Dawn asks, drowsily.

"Las Vegas. Karissa's got people there." Buffy tells her quietly, guiding her gently to a chair.

"Another coven?" Dawn asks, mumbling again now that sleep was regaining its hold.

"No, this sounds more long-term. Don't go back to sleep, we're leaving soon." Buffy says, as Karissa comes back into the room with a few nearly-misplaced items to shove in a random suitcase.

"The van will be along shortly?" Karissa asks, as the bellboy knocks on the open door.

"Uh, Ms. Tyler? Your van's here."

_((:elsewhere:))_

"Hey, Grissom, what's this nasty little rumor I've been hearing about newbies on the graveyard shift?" Sara Sidle asks, jogging to catch up with him just as he's entering his office.

"What rumor? Since the explosion we've been terribly behind, so when Tyler offered help, I took it." Gil Grissom says, setting the latest stack of ever-despised paperwork on his desk.

"We're catching up pretty quickly, though." Sara says more like angry that he's not more satisfied with her work than the prospect of more people roaming around the labs.

"Yes, but not quickly enough according to the D.A.'s office. It doesn't matter anyway; I got a call that they're on their way."

""They"? They're coming as a group?" Sara asks incredulously.

"Yes, and they're fully equipped with two lab techs and three field investigators, plus an independent contractor and someone they call a "coffee runner". Karissa's told me that they're almost as good as we are."

"Where are they coming from?" Sara asks, her curiosity winning out.

"They're flying in from San Diego, right now, but Karissa wasn't too clear on why they're not stationed anywhere permanently."

"Where'd they start out?"

"I don't know, she just told me something about a crater."

"Oh. I'll have to ask her when she gets back." Sara mutters.

"We still don't have anything coming in, do we?" Grissom asks, mildly disappointed.

"No, fortunately." Sara sighs. "You know, I blame television sci-fi writers for everything that's screwed us up this month."

"Really?" Grissom asks; his curiosity peaked. "I blame the criminals."

"Well yeah, but they have to get the details from somewhere, right?"

"Not necessarily."

"Especially if they're real vampires." Greg Saunders says, from the doorway.

"Oh no, don't tell me you actually _believe_ in vampires?" Sara says desperately wishing she had never opened her big mouth.

"If someone tries to chomp down on my neck outta no-where just 'cause I say I don't believe in vampires; I do." Greg says nervously tapping the edge of his file against his wrist.

"Got something for me, Greggo?" Grissom asks, starting to feel a headache.

"Yes and no. Brass just arrested the guy on Warrick's case."

"Am I needed for the trial?"

"Gonna have to ask Tyler; the case is hers now." Greg says, remembering the file as it begins to slip from his grasp. "Have either of you seen Catherine recently?"

"No, why?" Sara responds.

"I've got her lab results." Greg says, grateful that he at least has that to cover with.

"She should be in the A/V lab." Grissom offers.

"Thanks." Greg says, turning and hustling away from the office.

"Why don't you go get something to eat, I've got ballistics to run and lawyers to argue with."

"Sure." Sara says, rising from her seat.

Grissom sat back and watched her leave the office, waiting as long as he could before he had to get on the phone, wondering what he would say next to A.D. A. Karissa Tyler, before deciding to go down to the Ballistics lab first.

_((:further elsewhere:))_

"Hey, Catherine – "Greg says, noticeably less cheerful than usual.

"Unless the entire city of Las Vegas has suddenly been murdered, or you have my results; go away." Catherine growls, not bothering to look away from her monitor.

"Uh, little of both." Greg says quietly, fighting to control the shaking of his voice. "Your results for your blood work." He says, handing her the file as he takes a deep breath.

"More than one type?" Catherine asks, turning towards him, before looking at the file.

"No…"

"Then… what?" She asks, noticing that he's far more pale than usual before she begins reading the results carefully.

"Your, ahem, – your next door neighbor called. Said she saw a strange car pull out of your driveway…" Greg says, trying his best to breathe and not pass out. "With Lindsay in the car." Suddenly, in the back of his mind, an image of Catherine stabbing him in the neck with the pen she had in her right hand pops into his head.

"_What_! What do you mean? Does anyone else know?" Catherine cries, nearly tearing her lab results in two.

"Of course no one else knows. _I_ don't even know anything beyond what I told you."

"Okay, if anyone asks, I've gone to yell at my babysitter."

"No problem, let me know what happens."

"Sure, and Greg," Catherine says, organizing the papers she meant to leave, which Greg immediately scoops up, tossing him a slight strained smile as she hurried out the door, "thanks."

"No big. I hope everything's okay." He calls after her as she darts out the door and down the hall.

_((:a minute later:))_

"Good God…" Grissom whispers from around the corner from the A/V lab, having overheard everything. His mind works itself up to its usual four-hundred and thirty miles per hour as he watches Catherine leave. He starts to go down to the break room when he realizes that Greg is looking directly at him with a fairly odd expression, as he turns to leave.

_((:down the block:))_

"Surrounded by casinos and strip clubs, and we're going to the police department." Faith muses to herself. "Are you sure I'm not gonna be arrested?"

"Yeah, that's what that entire dealie an hour and a half ago was about." Karissa tells her watching the buildings as Xander navigates the streets of Las Vegas. "Xander, there, on the right."

Everyone's quiet as we pull into the parking lot to the crime labs and look for a fairly remote visitor's spot. The only improvement when they're out of the van is the soft muttering as everyone tries to wake up and relax as Karissa leads them into the building.

"Well, Will's home." Xander says, as the last of our group enters the building.

"All right; Xander, Willow, Faith, with me please? Everyone else, wait in the break room please?" Karissa says, as they stand just outside the break room.

"Okay." Willow says, looking a bit paler, yet still a bit wonderstruck.

"No problem." Kennedy says, as Giles leads a walking asleep Dawn into the break room. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Willow says gratefully.

"Be back soon." Karissa tells them, as she starts slowly continuing down the hall.

"Where'd you get "Fidelity Camille Veran" anyway?" Faith asks, as Karissa gives a very distracted looking Greg a little wave as we pass the DNA lab.

"Had to find an excuse for calling you "Faith", so I did a search while I was altering that photo." I told her, my pace quickening as we approached Gil Grissom's office. "Ghostbusters were busy, so I brought the next best thing." I say, intentionally sneaking up on him as I lead Faith, Xander, and Willow into his office. "Hi Grissom."

"Tyler." Grissom says, on the verge of a smile. "Want to make introductions, or am I supposed to guess?"

"Gil Grissom, meet Alexander Harris, your new contractor." I say, gesturing to indicate the two men respectively.

"Xander. Mr. Harris is my father, and since he couldn't even be bothered to get up and get his own beer we won't be hearing any more about him." Xander says as Grissom walks around from behind his desk to shake his hand.

"This is Fidelity Veran, but it's far less painful to simply call her Faith."

"Yeah, and you can investigate – "

"Faith!" Karissa cries, knowing that Grissom's probably got the same expression on now that he usually does when he talks to a multiples suspect – practically feeling the temperature begin to drop accordingly.

"So when do I get to meet this "Will" that you've been speaking so highly of?" Grissom asks, turning towards me.

"That would be me." Willow says, a bit nervously, but obviously not so nervous that she can't eye me suspiciously.

"Willow Rosenberg, yes, sorry, I must've been mumbling."

"Nice to meet you." Grissom says, shaking her hand.

"Yeah, same." Willow says, spotting the tarantula in the cage across the room. "Uh, is that real?"

"Yes, is that going to be a problem?" Grissom asks, choosing the short answer.

"No, just asking." Willow asks nervously.

"So what's the big deal we're supposed to be dealing with?" Faith asks, slowly pacing the perimeter of the room.

"I haven't hired you yet." Grissom says simply, raising an eyebrow.

"Not necessarily. Hire Will, hire Xander, whatever. I've been dealing without police assistance for a long time, I don't really need your job." Faith says, plopping down in Grissom's chair and putting her feet up on the desk.

"All right. Miss Rosenberg, you can start tonight. I understand you come with a partner?" Grissom says, paying very little attention to Faith.

"Yeah…"

"Rupert Giles, I meant to mention a second as well, if Faith got touchy or otherwise didn't work out." Karissa says.

"Who else?" Grissom asks suspiciously.

"Kennedy Talbot, just a teenager, but she's good for an internship." Karissa says, quickly trying to make her sound as interesting as she is useful, and failing miserably.

"How old?"

"Eighteen, nineteen. She's already been doing a lot of the work unofficially."

"All right, I suppose we can handle that, but there will have to be a brief probation period." Grissom says, obviously trying to decide how to remove Faith from his desk.

"Faith, up." Karissa says with a heavy sigh. "Xander, mind grabbing Giles and Kennedy for me?"

"Sure." Xander says with one last look at Grissom's embalmed piglet.

"I'll go with." Faith volunteers, heading out with Xander.

"So…" Willow says nervously after a long pause.

"What has who read lately?" Karissa asks, jumping in when I see Grissom's "say something interesting, or let me run your DNA" face.

"Nothing special." Grissom says, obviously disinclined to share.

"I actually read something last week about a different kind of insect-oid demon than the one we've seen already."

"Which one?" I ask.

"Remember Ms. French?"

"Ms. French was introduced into Sunnydale High as a substitute teacher, but men she had been associating with had started showing up decapitated. Enter the Scooby Gang. We found out what she really was when she went after Xander." Karissa tells Grissom, who was looking sort of interested and confused.

"Okay." Grissom says carefully.

"Yeah, but whereas Miss French turned into a giant praying mantis, this guy in New Berlin caught a woman turning into a giant scorpion." Willow says, completing the story.

"Really? Has anyone done anything yet?" Karissa asks.

"Yeah, Riley's team got there earlier this week."

"You've got to be kidding." Grissom says disbelievingly, rubbing his forehead.

"I thought you got him into the whole demon scene?"

"Ya leave out the bug demons for the entomologists." Karissa says easily, as she hears Giles coming down the hallway.

"If you wanted to just play some joke on me, Tyler, you could've just moved Miss Piggy." Grissom says, making me wonder if he's truly irritated or just amused, although Karissa knows full well that he doesn't believe her. Fortunately Giles knocks on the office door before she gets the opportunity to start with him.

"Yes?" Grissom calls.

"Grissom; Giles, Kennedy." Karissa says, gesturing casually between them.

"Hey." Kennedy says.

"Hello." Giles says, taking off his glasses to clean them on his shirttail.

"Tyler's told me that you were a librarian when she met you, your most recent job was as owner of an occult supplies store that you only took up because the high school library you had been working at was the epicenter of the school's destruction, an dl though all of that you had been doing the equivalent of a level two CSI's work. What did she leave out?"

"Only that the epicenter you spoke of was a Hellmouth that recently opened and not only destroyed the rebuilt school, but also swallowed the town." Giles tells him, tucking his shirt back in as he put on his glasses.

"Hey Gris', sorry to interrupt, but we got a problem. Catherine just called, sounded pretty worried. Specifically requested that you and Tyler grab a couple people and get to her location pronto." Nick Stokes says, sidestepping Kennedy.

"She's at home? Did she tell you anything else?" Grissom asks almost frantically.

"No, just that she wants you and Tyler there ASAP." Nick says, sounding unusually worried.

"My car this time?" Karissa asks Grissom.

"Yeah" Grissom says, more distracted than she ever thought possible.

"Ok. Is it okay if we take Will? I'd like you to brief her on the demon situation here."

"I guess, we need to get going." Grissom says hesitantly.

"No problem. Will, with me. Kennedy and Giles, get everyone to the Montecito, register using my name only." I tell everyone.

"Done." Kennedy tells me as Willow, Grissom and I leave in a tight wedge formation as if we were on a war path.

"I'll take you by the morgue later on and show you the latest vics." Karissa says to Willow under her breath so that she doesn't disturb Grissom's thought process too much.

"Right, so who's this Catherine and what's wrong at her house?" Willow asks quietly.

"Catherine's… well, Catherine's a good friend of mine sometimes and Grissom's close personal buddy-girl." I say quietly. "As for what's wrong, we'll have to see when we get there."

"Where's your car?" Grissom asks as we get to the end of the hallway.

"Out back, don't worry." I tell him as he makes up his mind on which way to go.

_((:over there:))_

"So what's Karissa's deal?" Buffy asks ask Kennedy and Giles walk back into the break room.

"No idea. She and Willow ran off with the head of the department right after Giles told him about Sunnydale." Kennedy says grabbing her purse and leaning against a counter.

"What she did say is that we should go to the Montecito and get some food and rest." Giles says deflecting some of the groans of protest.

"All right, so we'll do that." Xander says resignedly.

"Willow told me that Karissa told her that we should ask for Sam Jane when we get there. For some reason she didn't want Grissom to hear this." Kennedy says as everyone else picks up their purses and jackets.

"Keeping secrets again, probably." Nick says, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot beside Kennedy. "We didn't even know there was more than one Slayer until a couple of weeks ago."

"When did you know there was _one_?" Dawn asks awake for the first time that night.

"Translated into normal adult as just who the hell are you?" Robin asks, as Nick smiles and opens his mouth to reply.

"Nick Stokes, level three CSI. Nice to meet you."

"Hey, you too. See ya around." Xander says, herding everyone out the door.

"Later." Nick says, still amused by how the guys tighten up when he speaks up.

_((:a few minutes later:))_

"Well, that was rude." Dawn says, getting into the blue van we rented.

"Damage control." Robin growls, entertaining thoughts of sealing Karissa's mouth shut permanently.

"Still rude." Dawn says under her breath.

"It was supposed to be." Xander says, hitting the OnStar button after starting the van.

"Hey, if Karissa's told them about the slayers, shouldn't we be worried about other sensitive information being compromised?" Kennedy asks.

"Gee, ya _think_?" Robin says quietly, as Xander gets directions to the Montecito from the OnStar operator.

_((:yet more places that are else:))_

"Hey, Sam. Do you have any idea what all this is about?" Danny McCoy asks, walking up to her as she and Mary Connel walk down the hallway, her phone practically glued to her ear.

"Hang on a sec." Sam says into her cell phone, not stopping since Danny's already heading in the same direction they are. "Yes and no. I assume you mean the situation with big Ed suddenly emptying out five of our best suites?"

"Well yeah. So what do you know?" Danny says.

"Just that Karissa's got something to do with it." Mary says, glancing suspiciously at him. "You're supposed to be security, how do you not know this?"

"Difficult to know things that no one tells you." Sam says, as Mike Cannon opens the door to the operations center for them from the inside.

"That's one, another is that you have a very good habit of getting information before anyone else whether you're supposed to have it or not." Mike says, leading the way to the conference lounge, where Ed Deline, his daughter Delinda, and Nessa Holt were already waiting.

"What took _you_ so long?" Ed asks Danny as they all walk in, closing the door and shutting the blinds on the big glass wall with a button on the wall behind them.

"I had to remove Mr. Miller." Danny says, always nervous when put on the spot by Ed. "He decided that he didn't need to leave the suite he was in any sooner than his neighbor, who was already gone, so he threw a punch at the maid."

"I see, well. You've obviously been apprised that we need five suites by yesterday, clean and, uh – and I quote here; "Tyler inspection ready". So, here's what you _shouldn't_ have now; Karissa's going to need these long-term. They will need to be our finest, or at least second best, any lower and she'll be jumping down all of our throats, and Mary, you'll probably be called upon a few times to keep this pair of teenagers she's traveling with occupied. Particularly during the day."

"Um, I'm sorry, but what does any of this have to do with me and Nessa? They don't sound like they're coming here to gamble." Sam says, putting the pen to her blackberry away.

"Oh, but it has everything to do with everyone in this room. You see, Nessa, you'll be keeping an eye on Karissa's young friends. Mary, you'll be arranging for their meetings. Danny, you'll be doing your normal job and making sure none of them get assassinated on Montecito property. Mike will be arranging transportation. Delinda will be arranging their meals at Mystique. Sam, though, you'll be doing the most important thing of all; you get to keep Karissa in the casino for as long as possible after you get her and her friends the equipment she needs, oh, which is something else they might need Mike for, but ya know, burn that bridge when you come to it."

"Wait, Karissa's _gambling_?" Danny asks, voicing the astonishment of the rest of the group.

"'Risa never gambles, she considers it a waste of time." Sam grumbles.

"No, she doesn't consider it a waste of time, she considers it pointless because she's already got more than enough money to tide her over." Mike says, as Nessa continues to pout a little.

"Which is true…" Mary says, shrugging.

"Doesn't matter. She's promised since she's been such a nuisance lately she'll spend some time in the casino, this time actually gambling instead of dealing." Ed says, infinitely more satisfied with this situation than the many past disturbing situations.

"So, what about her friends? Is she just compensating for a bunch of raving lunatics that'll be coming up with insane demands at even more insane hours?" Sam asks, not liking how this is starting to look for her sleeping sceadual.

"Actually, no... at least, not exactly." Ed says hesitantly beginning to explain the situation as Karissa laid it out for him.

"Not the kind of raving lunatics you're used to. Just the kind that ask for particular rooms, slightly strange food, and special security requests. No one's gonna be asking for the use of evena $750,000 car, or for the entire casino to themselves or anything. We're gonna try to keep out of your hair as much as possible just as long as you do the same for us." Willow says, leading Faith, Kennedy, and Giles into the conferance lounge.


End file.
